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Wednesday, January 13, 2010

NEJM: Physicians Googling Themselves

What happens if you Google yourself? Did you know that Google has turned into a verb? There are many physicians who are "Googling" themselves to see what they can find.

There's a Perspective article in the NEJM (New England Journal of Medicine) titled, "Googling Ourselves — What Physicians Can Learn from Online Rating Sites." Dr. Shaili Jain writes about various online physician rating websites and the reality of consumerism. Patients are rating physicians and websites like RateMDs, Vitals, Vimo, and RevolutionHealth. How much impact do these websites make? Are physician rating systems really helpful for consumers? In many cases, they may be harmful to physicians, so how should they get handled? What if an angry patient simply wishes to strike back by writing a dishonest (but harmful) review?

1 comment:

There is lots that physicians can learn from "googling" themselves as long as they recognize that although any single rating may seem unfair, the themes of the ratings are probably on target.

The real question is what can patients learn about their doctors and other providers from Google. Why don't more consumers use these sites? Here is a perspective: http://archelleonhealth.blogspot.com/2010/01/when-more-traffic-leads-to-better.html